Sust SDG 6 clean water & sanitation

Potable water

Water safe to be used as drinking
water

Non-Potable

Water not treated to drinking water
standards and is not meant for human consumption

Freshwater

Used for
drinking, bathing, irrigation—
accounts for only 2.5%

Salt Water

97.5% of all water
on the planet (Oceans)

Hydrologic cycle

Water is
moving
around
constantly,
from liquid,
to vapor to
ice and
back again

Fresh Water

Used for drinking,
cooking, and irrigation

Confined Aquafers

Filtered and cleaner

unconfined/Exposed Aquafers

May contain pollutants

Water Supply

Clean water is
withdrawn from a source,
purified, and delivered to homes
and businesses.

Water Sanitation

Dirty water is
moved through an extensive
system of pipes and underground
infrastructure that delivers the
water to a wastewater treatment
plant, where it is filtered and
cleaned before being discharged
back into lakes, streams, and
estuaries.

Basic Sanitation

Access to facilities for
safe disposal of human
waste

open defecation

defecating in the open—fields,
forests, bushes, lakes, etc.—instead of a toilet

Water Infrastructure

Systems of water supply, treatment,
storage resource management, flood
protection and hydropower

Water Scarcity

Both
a natural and human-
made problem

Physical Water
Scarcity

Demand
outstrips water
supply, leading to
issues of access to
water.

Economic Water
Scarcity

Lack of
water infrastructure

Virtual Water

Water “hidden”
in the products we use

Point Source Pollution

 Any single identifiable source of pollution
from which pollutants are discharged
 Clear discharge mechanism, such as a pipe

NonPoint Source Pollution

 Discharged without a single or clearly obvious source

Agricultural Runoff
 Water from irrigation, rain, snow flows from fields into ground or bodies
of water; contains pesticides, fertilizers, nitrogen, phosphorous, etc.
 Urban Runoff
 Pollutants accumulated in soil/roadways washed into sewage systems
 Wates & Sewage from Residential Areas
 Collected in larger sewer systems, impossible to tell origin

Separate Sewer Systems

Sewage and stormwater are
carried in separate systems;
do not mix

Combined Sewer Systems

Carry raw sewage and
stormwater together in one
pipe to a sewage treatment
plant. Popular in cities.

Microfinance

A type of banking service provided
to low-income individuals and groups who
otherwise wouldn’t have access to financial
services, due to their low incomes, lack of credit,
and limited access to banking services. These
microloans range from $50-$50,000

Desalination

Removing salts, minerals,
impurities from ocean water

Water Reuse

Uses technology to treat and
repurpose waste water for alternative uses,
treating the water according to the water
quality requirements of its planned reuse

direct Potable Reuse

Wastewater is treated and
then returned directly into the drinking water
distribution system or into pipelines to a drinking
water treatment plant
Singapore recycled wastewater example

grey Water

Polluted water from households or
agriculture without contacting fecal matter; recycled
for irrigation